Mexican Program Using ATVs Wins Gates Access to Learning Award
Norman Oder -- Library Journal, 8/14/2008
- Ninth annual Gates international award
- 120,000 people reached so far; award will allow expansion
- Program helped jewelry maker, coffee growers
On Wednesday, the Vasconcelos Program in Mexico’s Veracruz state was awarded the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s 2008 Access to Learning Award. The program was cited for its provision of free access to computers, the Internet, and training via all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) equipped with technology classrooms. Foundation partner Microsoft will also contribute software and a technology training curriculum. The announcement was made during the International Federation of Libraries and Association (IFLA) annual conference, held this year in Quebec City.
(Photos courtesy of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation/Karie Hamilton)
The Vasconcelos program was created and managed by the secretary of public education in Veracruz, a mountainous state in the east-central part of the country. Though state and federal authorities have provided computers in schools, community centers, and other public spaces, many residents lack skills to use the equipment. Each bus, with a training team, computers, and satellite Internet connections, goes from village to village, spending up to two weeks to get residents up to speed. Since 2005, the program has reached more than 120,000 people in more than 200 communities, many of them quite poor, via Vasconcelos’ fleet of 24 ATVs. The award will further the expansion of the program.
“Many of the communities we visit are initially hesitant to embrace information t
echnology, but we remove this barrier by tailoring our programs to meet local economic, health, and educational needs, and ensuring our approach aligns with the indigenous cultures in which we work,” said Dr. Victor Arredondo, Veracruz’s secretary of public education and founder of the Vasconcelos Program.
For example, one resident cited in the foundation’s press release used online resources to market her small jewelry-making business. Coffee farmers in Veracruz learned how to to monitor coffee prices online and also find information about loans for fertilizers and seeds. This was the ninth Access to Learning Award.
